Our Bold Ideas sessions serve as a platform for citizens, activists, and leaders to share their personal, career, and life experiences and challenges with the community, and how they negotiated their life paths around these challenges. Below you may find recorded Bold Idea sessions that you may watch and learn from. If you would like to host a Bold Ideas session, apply here.
BOLD Ideas! From Canada to Afghanistan: A Journey of Healing & Impact with Dr. Maureen Mayhew
Maureen Mayhew is a Canadian physician and author who recounts her experiences in Taliban-occupied Afghanistan in her novel Hand on My Heart: A Canadian Doctor’s Awakening in Afghanistan.
She has spent over 25 years practicing medicine across Canada and in several developing countries across the globe. As she continues practicing as a Leadership Coach, Maureen looks to engage with students across Canada and provide insight on her diverse experiences in the field of health!
*Please note: The recorded sessions below are listed in reversed chronology.
Mature Student Journey, Road Less Travelled
with Clifton A. Grant
Thursday, June 23rd, 2022
This Bold Ideas session will be centred on three key themes: Desire, Dedication and Determination – attributes required for success, especially for Mature Students. Clifton will discuss overcoming fears, removing barriers, and leapfrogging obstacles that stand in your way. He will stress the importance of finding the time for success in university and applying yourself once you arrive on Campus. During the session, Clifton will provide anecdotes from his successful first year. The session will also focus on the importance of finding Life/Work Balance, Physical and Mental Health and most importantly not being hard on yourself on your journey. To remember this journey is about self-improvement, self-empowering and your career aspirations. Remember your Passion. Remember your Purpose. Keep on Keeping on. Time Flies!
Hope for my Hippocampus: Black Mental Health Between the US/Canada Border
with Everett Lawrence (E.L.) Adams II
Tuesday, February 15th
E.L. Adams II graduated from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee with a master’s degree in Educational and Counseling Psychology. E. L. created programs based on his thesis to combine music and mental health, and to allow for deep and safe conversations. E. L. has supported adolescents, families, school boards and communities with mental health and encouraging others to get the support that they need to develop, grow and manage their well-being. In our Bold Ideas discussion, E.L. will discuss some of his experiences on both sides of the American and Canadian border. Given that the hippocampus plays a major role in learning and memory, E.L. hopes to share his unique account of a black experience from what is embedded in his hippocampus: the things he has learned and remembered that have had an impact on his own mental health. E.L.’s daily occurrences have shown him that there are more similarities than differences between the U.S. and Canadian borders when it comes to racism. Through his presentation, E.L. hopes to highlight how he has managed to preserve his peace and to continue functioning at an optimal level with hope that new memories can be created that include acceptance and value of a Black man.
The Truth About Being the Main Character: Navigating the pressures, expectations, and opportunities as a second-generation Canadian
with Sahr Wali
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
As most students know, balancing work, school, and family life, comes with a lot of pressures, expectations, and opportunities. Whether that be pressures coming from your peers or opportunities coming from your parents, everyone’s story is different to tell. Sahr Wali knows all too well as a second-generation Canadian about the purpose and changes she has in her community. She dives into what balancing an MD and PhD in philosophy is like and how both have contributed to her life’s work and passions.
The Queendom of Fungi; Lessons on Healing Self, Community, and the Environment from Plant Allies and Mycelial Networks
with Erin Cochrane
Wednesday, November 11, 2021
We have co-evolved alongside our allies in nature; plants, herbs, animals, mushrooms, throughout our existence. Mushrooms are agreed to be one of the oldest recorded living organisms on this planet. After being around for so long, there are a few things we could learn from their wisdom.
Humans are now consciously evolving at an exponential rate. But what often happens during evolutions or transformations, are series of breakdowns, breakthroughs and leaving old ways behind. Erin shares her experiences with loss and grief, exploration of unconventional ways of living, and healing through community and the teachings of fungi. She looks into what challenging normative systems and learning from and modelling “modern life” after intentional communities, and the fungal queendom could be like. And our opportunity through radical vulnerability and authenticity to achieve higher service to ourselves and others.
Disrupting the Status Quo: Reimagining Student Leadership
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Disrupting the Status Quo: Reimagining Student Leadership is panel event that will highlight the lessons learned, challenges, and future directions gained from the past six years of student leadership and student-led programs at Calumet and Stong Colleges. The panelists will consist of faculty, staff, alumni, fellows, and peer leaders past and present who will share first-hand their leadership experiences.
We invite our Calumet and Stong Colleges Community, including students, peer leaders, staff, faculty, and alumni, as well as our University partners for their feedback and insight regarding our programs, what has been learned, and how we can move forward with strengthening our initiatives. It is also an opportunity for the larger York University community to network and hopefully find new peer leader and student success synergies.
Financial Wellbeing Matters: Peer-led Curriculum Design
with The Financial Wellness Team
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Bold Ideas! sessions serve as a platform for citizens, activists, and leaders to share their personal, career, and life experiences and challenges with the community, and how they negotiated their life paths around these challenges.
Presenters: Simi Sahota, Nicholas Cheng, Jennifer Diep, Dema Talib, Kooshan Mazloomi, Kaye Canoy, Farwa Arshad, Agata Stypka, Mazen Hamadeh, Jennine Rawana, Maria Palermo, Hari Pillai
What does it mean to be a survivor of civil war? A conversation
with Nadine Atwi
Thursday, June 10, 2021
As a survivor of the Lebanese civil war, I still recall horrible childhood memories of the war; the smells, the sounds, and the indescribable fear that casted a shadow over my life for fifteen long years. I have watched my house being destroyed, my father being kidnaped and my frightened mother trying to flee with her young daughters to safety. The same experiences were part of my life again as a mother, trying to protect my children from blood thirsty combatants who use to be neighbours and friends. Yet, all these painful experiences that scarred my life and the lives of thousands other Lebanese, seemed to be non-existent in the official History curriculum. At times, it seemed as if we did not exist, as if war were nothing but a Myth. Topics related to the war were regarded as taboos, thus triggering students’ curiosity to discover what really happened during the civil war. The official narrative about the civil war could be summarized in three simple words: Victims should forget. As a teacher, I had to find ways to challenge the existing narrative and cultivate students’ critical capacity. Through Storytelling, I presented my students with stories of the people, of their losses, their struggles, and their pain that is often framed under “collateral damage”. Through storytelling, I invited my students to recognize that the civil war is a shared legacy; this was my bold choice to bring them together amidst the heated sectarian confrontation.
What does it mean to be Bold?
Do not ask for permission to change the world. Be bold, and dare be the change – Nadine Atwi Ammache
A Conversation about the Black Experience: Empowerment, Well-being, and Mobilization
with Dr. Monique Herbert, Bri Darboh, and Najma Eno
Friday, February 5, 2021
Bold Ideas serves as a platform for citizens, activists and leaders to share their personal, career and life experiences and challenges with the community, and how they negotiated their life paths around these challenges. We believe in the power of ideas, actions and experiences. We believe that humans are catalysts for a better world. We believe each experience is unique and can elevate the consciousness of others.
Bold Ideas is where extraordinary people share extraordinary ideas that challenge our perspectives of what is possible, what is not possible and what is certain.
Presenters: Dr. Monique Herbert, Bri Darboh, and Najma Eno will lead a panel discussion, inviting the audience to join.
Being Bold and Brave: Navigating Mental Illness in the South Asian Community and Healthcare System
with Safwatch Farooqui
Monday, August 24, 2020
Witnessing my mother battle with anxiety and depression over the years has often left me feeling helpless and alone. I had to watch the person I love wait over 5 months to see a psychiatrist and be unable to seek ongoing therapy. The misconceptions of mental illness within the South Asian community made the journey of healing for my mother difficult and added to my feelings of powerlessness. Through sharing my story, talking to other students and organizations, I realized I wasn’t powerless, that I had the power to inspire change in the way we view mental ‘illness’ and support people’s continued fight to seek care. This, is my story.
Safwath is currently completing his BA in Psychology at York University and hopes to pursue a Master’s in Social Work with a focus on mental health. He has been involved with Student Community and Leadership Development (SCLD) as a Peer Health Educator, engaging with students and faculty in incorporating wellness as a daily practice. He has also served as the Academic Representative for Calumet College Council, highlighting the intersection between academic success and mental health. Safwath is passionate about mental health advocacy and aspires to bring changes to inequitable access to mental health services in Canada.
A Black Woman’s Experience: Navigating Professional Spaces, Building Resilience, and Being a Strong Leader
with Kamilah Clayton
Friday, August 21, 2020
As a child, I was told that I had to work “twice as hard, to be viewed as just as good”. This one phrase would shape the way I showed up in all spaces throughout my life, and in particular, the way I exist in the workplace. For Black women, professional spaces can be sites of great satisfaction for the years of hard work you’ve put into building your career, or they can be sites of trauma and ongoing assaults to who you are. In this session, I will discuss some of my strategies for navigating the workplace as a Black woman, and why now, more than ever, it is imperative to invest in and support Black women.
Kamilah Clayton, MSW, RSW, CBT, is a Registered Social Worker, with over 10 years of experience working with children, youth, and families. Kamilah holds a Bachelor of Psychology, a Bachelor’s and a Masters in Social Work, and is certified in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Kamilah is an African Centred Rites of Passage Initiate and a former member of Yensomu African Rites of Passage. Kamilah has a private practice in Whitby, ON, where she specializes in issues of Anxiety, Depression, Stress, and Racial identity. Kamilah is committed to providing quality mental health counseling and programming to members of the African Canadian Community.
Your Story Doesn’t End Here: Valuing Survivors’ Diverse Experience with Trauma, Recovery, and Activism
with Shalyn Isaac
Thursday, August 13, 2020
Individuals with marginalized identities who face discrimination on the basis of their race, gender, sexual identity or socio-economic class often face additional obstacles to sharing their experiences with trauma and becoming social advocates when coping with on-going traumas that are part of their daily existence. Activists and advocates from marginalized backgrounds may start to feel that their work is insufficient as a result of coping with on-going traumas and/or trauma memories. In this talk, Shalyn will challenge assumptions embedded within the Master American Narrative by highlighting the importance of appreciating diverse trauma stories and emphasizing ways that systemic change and individual psychological healing is connected to collective liberation. She will be using my personal experiences with trauma healing and advocacy work in the field of women’s mental health and sexual violence to highlight the importance of appreciating diverse lived experiences with trauma, healing, recovery and activism that rarely follows linear trajectories.
Shalyn Isaacs was the first student to serve on the Board of Trustees at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada’s largest mental health hospital. During her time at York University as the Founder and President of Women’s Mental Health Talks and a Leadership Coach with Calumet & Stong Colleges, she worked with hundreds of students to address mental health challenges and navigate experiences with trauma. Her research has focused on intersectional theory and feminist psychology, as well as the interconnections between cultural values and South Asian women’s mental health. She has been a public speaker for 4 years, giving talks related to women’s mental health, sexual violence education and prevention, equitable leadership, perfectionism, and the role of compassion in trauma healing, self-care and systemic equity. Her work addresses trauma-informed education and leadership. She believes that adopting trauma-informed perspectives within educational and leadership spaces has the potential to create institutions that are equitable and that prioritize the mental health, learning capacities, and empowerment of marginalized individuals and communities.
Unmasking Failure: An Intersectional View at Mental Health and Masculinity
with Ashim Sharma
Thursday, July 16, 2020
It is often the redemption story within us that we seek, and we take for granted the importance of the failures that lead up to it. Often times, we may even fear the failure that precedes the redemption. But without being knocked down over and over, without the countless failures, and without the endless lessons, the redemption story would just be another story. As a first-generation South-Asian student navigating the diaspora of mass immigration, dealing with mental health issues throughout his life, and addressing masculine norms within society, Ashim is no stranger to failure. Join Ashim in his attempt to change the narrative behind the redemption story and unmask failure to uncover its necessity in everyday life.
Ashim is currently completing his BA in Psychology and English at York University and is looking to pursue a Master’s in counselling. His current research interests revolve around Masculinity and its effects on Emotion Regulation. He has been involved with the Faculty of Health at York University as a Calumet & Stong Colleges Leadership Coach since 2018, delivering leadership skills training to hundreds of students. He is also leading the GEL group within The Centre for Sexual Violence Response, Support & Education, to engage male identified or non-binary community members to work towards ending gender-based violence and contributing to enhancing and supporting positive masculinity. Ashim is also supporting an Agents of Change project, Humans In Progress, to aid community leaders in recovering and re-assessing their sense of purpose and their personal mission.
Three Generations of Rebels: Defying the Status Quo
with Diana, Jamal, and Raya Khoury
Thursday, June 18, 2020
A young woman in a small village in southern Lebanon decides to found a school for girls in the 1950s against the will of village elders and men. She challenges sexism and helps shape the perception of generations of men and women. She becomes a role model to women and girls…. Her daughter negotiates the trials and tribulations of every day war in Beirut in the 1970s/80s, a war that splits the entire country along religious lines. She falls in love with a man from another religion, and strives to overcome her family’s prejudice against inter-religious marriage. She challenges generations of bigotry as she immigrates to Canada and raises a family…. Her two Canadian children strive to establish their career paths challenging family pressures for formal post-secondary education…. Three generations pursue their life paths to fulfill their calling, and in the process inspire generations of men and women to think and live more authentically. In defying norms, they elevate themselves and others.
Diana Khoury: Born and educated in Lebanon, Diana moved to Canada 30 years ago with an MBA degree. Diana recently joined the Shell International team as Head of Global Alliances and Partnerships and relocated to London, UK on an international assignment. As a senior woman leader, she became a role model for upcoming female talent that aspires to influence and shape the future of the Retail industry globally.
Jamal Khoury: Jamal is an event producer, radio host, DJ, and music producer. Jamal entered the world of radio and digital audio production in 2012 when he began volunteering with CJSW90.9FM, Calgary’s independent campus and community radio station. Community radio quickly became part of his lifestyle – it provided Jamal an outlet to dive deep into his love of music, and CJSW offered the facilities to learn and practice new skills. The idea of championing an inclusive creative community became at the forefront of Jamal’s pursuits.
Raya Khoury: As an aspiring entrepreneur, and recent post-secondary drop-out, she sought out some ideas and inspiration by entering the world of restaurants. Raya quickly fell in love with being in service of others and through some varied encounters, she experienced a range of different management styles and became eager to personally develop her own sense of leadership. Raya is now in the midst of creating her own platform that she can use to equip and empower others with the resources to live a meaningful and healthy life.
How Listening Saved My Life
with Rahin Virani
Monday, June 8, 2020
Recognizing and embracing the power of active listening has truly changed my life. In this presentation, I will be sharing the experiences I have had responding to clients who are in distress and sharing how active listening has helped my clients and I lead a more meaningful life. This presentation will also provide you with practical strategies for becoming a better active listener which can help improve your personal and professional relationships. After the presentation, there will be a question and answer session with opportunities for participants to share their own experiences.
Rahin is a Crisis Line Responder for Greater Toronto Distress Centres and Canada Suicide Prevention Services and is studying psychology in order to become a licensed psychotherapist. At present, Rahin works one-on-one with clients as a Certified Life Coach to help them achieve their personal and professional goals. Rahin has previously worked as a Leadership & Development Coordinator where he trained more than 400 students through Calumet and Stong Colleges’ foundational and advanced peer leadership training programs.
Move More, Exercise Less: Challenging our Perspective of Physical Activity
with Cameron Mattice
Monday, March 9, 2020
It’s hardly refuted now a days that exercise is good for our health and general well-being. We are constantly bombarded with information about the benefits and long list of what we should be doing, yet statistics show that many people in North America continue to be physically inactive. Join presenter Cameron Mattice as he shares his journey of overcoming cancer, achieving success as a competitive baseball player, and how his fitness experience brought him to reconsider what is important. In this talk, Cameron shares why he feels that our current paradigm of exercise may be working against us and makes a case for an alternative. He will address the theory of the fundamentals of movement and provide practical applications that are accessible to all.
Cameron Mattice is a former competitive athlete, having travelled across North America playing baseball. He played on 18u Team Canada and received a scholarship to attend college in Louisiana. During his athletic career, Cameron overcame cancer and other health challenges. Through these experiences, he learned to develop resiliency and discovered the body’s incredible ability to heal. It was a result of this adversity that Cameron decided to change his career path towards helping others feel their best. Cameron has a degree in Kinesiology and Health Science from York University, is a registered Hatha Yoga Teacher, and is certified as a Strength and Conditioning Coach. Currently, Cameron is pursuing education to become a Doctor of Chiropractic. He also provides an online coaching service for adults which focuses on educating physical literacy and supportive lifestyle practices. To find out more about Cameron please access www.matticemovement.com
Owning the Journey: Discovering the Human Within
with Nida Hashimi
Thursday, March 5, 2020
My love for who I am and what I do in my life has defined my freedom to overcome my low self-esteem. Along the way, the struggles, states of vulnerability, hardships, and inequality have taught me to be at peace with myself and others around me. I took ownership of my actions and their consequences in my life which took me to the journey of self-discovery and identifying the potentials of the woman within.
Nida is a fourth-year Kinesiology and Health Science Student and has been involved with Stong and Calumet Colleges in leadership roles (former Kinesiology and Health Science Student Organization KAHSSO Peer Tutoring Coordinator) and is currently a Student Health Ambassador at York (SHAY) for faculty of health. She is currently a spiritual leader for her Ismaili Community for the post-secondary students at York University and is the project coordinator for Girls Mentorship Program within the GTA North sector of Ismaili Community at large. She is passionate about empowering women through self-discovery and a proponent of spreading love to acquire peace.
Exercise and Health: What They Won’t Tell You on Social Media
with Glen Owen
Thursday, February 27, 2020
What if I told you that most exercise health and fitness professionals are focusing on the wrong things? In the age of social media and online personal training, fitness has become watered down. Join presenter Glen Owen as he discusses the critical components of exercise and shares a fresh perspective on what exercise is, what the fitness industry needs to learn, and what you can do to take care of yourself and your body for life.
Glen is a personal trainer and certified muscle system specialist that works with clients to improve their muscle and motor function so they can go back to doing what they love. His mission is to educate clients and exercise professionals on how to create better, more sustainable physical health and exercise practices. He is a graduate of York University’s Kinesiology & Health Science program, a certified muscle system specialist, and holds a NSCA-CSCS certification. To find out more about Glen, please access GO Integrated Health at http://gointegratedhealth.ca/